Running in Paris

Posted on 30th November, 2010 | Tagged:

I started today the way I finished, by running up the steps of the Baslisque de la Sacre Couer, running up the slope rather than the steps to maintain my own pace, breathing heavily at the top I run past 3 army guards with automatic rifles, patroling around the monument.

A guitar player sits by the open gate of fenced permiter playing spanish guitar on a steel-stringed instrument, amplified and with an echo effect, improvising or playing his own versions of Pink Floyd or Metallica.

The panoramic from the top is wide, a sea of yellow dots at night.

I then headed in a northerly direction, away from the Seiene and the Basalisque running and dodging along the crowded streets, where, at the black-and-white street crossings the green man is illuminated and you run accross unaware that in Paris many people dont take much notice of the red lights and so you brake suddenly, skipping your toes on the ground before resuming your right-of-way.

After hitting a boluevard I headed down it, South, looking for a famiiar landmark or sign. I see the spot-lights of the Tour de Eife projecting over the building-tops and I know that I am running in the right direction. I then see a sign for "Concorde", which is the "Place de la Concorde", which has the obleisk and a statue and leads on to the Champs de Elyesses.

I follow the signs, stopping frequently at traffic lights, a man says something to me ".. Sportif", I say "oui, oui, Sportif" he says something else, I say "Oui, oui, c'est fois", not hearing what he said but guessing it. "You are cold", "Oui, assez fois". I didn't realize he spoke in English, "You speak English?", "Yep". Then he turned and walked away.

It is chilly but I am not cold, I am cold on the bike, I am cold when I walk, but running keeps your body very warm and I wear shorts and a thin bicyling top, I usuay leave wearing my thin cycling gloves but usually take them off. I usualy take my thin cycling top off too.

I look at my watch and it has been 30 minutes and I hadnt yet reached my improvised destination, the Place de la Concorde, I wanted to run further -- my legs are feeling strong -- I wanted to run down the Champs de Elysses, back to the Tour de Eifel, Notredame, the Bastille, but I ran those monuments two days ago during a 2 hour run, and then too, I was feeling strong, but I pushed myself too hard in that run and injured my knee.

With the injured knee I have to run with a straight right leg, like it is in a cast, I try and avoid bending it and my left leg does most of the pushing. Running uphill is fine is as before, running on the flat I skip right leg outward slightly and let it bend naturaly without "using" it in a forcefull way, otherthan pushing down, running downhill is more problematic and the right leg makes wide arcs as it pivots the weight downwards.

I only ran for an hour because I didnt want to cause my knee more damage, and its not as fun when you are running injured. Its tempting to not run at all when injured (going for a run has always been a rewarding obligation), but in truth I can usually avoid causing further injury by changing the running technique and in terms of pain, I recieve more when walking and little when running.

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